


You Can Never Go Home Again

by thedevilchicken



Category: Batman (Movies - Nolan)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Drabble Sequence, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-11-16
Updated: 2008-11-16
Packaged: 2018-04-06 19:08:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,008
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4233348
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thedevilchicken/pseuds/thedevilchicken
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Harvey hates Arkham.</p>
            </blockquote>





	You Can Never Go Home Again

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted to Livejournal on 16 November 2008. 
> 
> Canon-divergent as of the end of _The Dark Knight_ , with Harvey surviving.

1\. 

Harvey hates Arkham. 

Some there find it comforting, the relative security, the isolation, insulation from the world they like to call responsible for the way they are. It isn't, but he sees the appeal: the asylum makes life simple. 

Harvey isn't looking for a simple life. 

Bruce Wayne visits once a week. Harvey sees he hates the place but still he comes, he guesses from a sense of duty. They don't really talk; they play chess instead, a board either side of the glass. 

The doctors say the choices help him. He tosses the coin to see if they're right. 

\---

2.

Necessity's what brings Batman there, and nothing else. That's what he tells himself. 

They fear Harvey now out on the streets, the Gotham police telling Gothamites he's dangerous, he's mad. They're fickle like all people are, he can't begrudge them that but feels it. Gordon's hands are tied; there's no one he can ask for help. There's no one except Harvey. 

Batman knows Arkham's security. A WayneTech subsidiary handled repairs so he has the plans, every detail digitised. He slips inside without a sound. Harvey wakes; there's venom in his eyes but he complies. 

They're gone long before the alarm. 

\---

3\. 

The world seems changed now he's back on the street, both darker and clearer outside Arkham's walls. The asylum's lights never dim, bright enough to pare away existence to its simplest form. The men that Harvey is both want their life unaltered; they'll take the knife to it themselves. 

Yes, he knows the Batman's watching. This is why he was freed, to bring back all Maroni's men - Batman, now, is relying on Harvey. The men that he is pull in different directions: betrayal and complicity. 

When it ends, he goes with him. But it's hard to say which half won. 

\---

4.

He should have sent him back to Arkham. 

Harvey's staying in the cave under close supervision, aware of the cameras just because Bruce told him. He never makes a fuss, never yells, never tries to get away. There's serenity despite his face; Bruce knows it's a lie but has to wonder if he cares. 

Harvey sleeps on a bed in the medical bay, dressed in Bruce's old clothes. He eats there, reads books from the house, helps though Bruce doesn't ask. It's been weeks, just like that. 

He should take him back, he knows. Instead, he takes off the mask. 

\---

5.

"Bruce," Harvey says, not at all like the world just stopped turning. He privately suspects it has. 

"Harvey." Bruce's voice is just like he remembers, not a trace of the Bat though he's still wearing most of the suit. Harvey has no idea what to do. 

The breakdown is gradual, quiet and total. Rachel drifts through his head; she'd known, of course, she'd been Bruce's best friend. Fevered dreams for vengeance cool down brittle as Harvey's bent psyche, fracture in his head until it hurts. Wayne Manor and Bruce overwhelm him. 

Eight days. "Take me back to Arkham," he says. 

\---

6.

Bruce hates Arkham. 

Some say Batman belongs there with the rest, even four years on with all the proof they've seen. Sometimes he wonders too, when those he sends there escape time after time. Nothing changes. 

His scars increase with his enemies, Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy, Scarface, the Penguin and Hush. He still sees Harvey almost weekly, for chess - two boards and a window then one in a room. He's not sure if it's Harvey or Two-Face that plays him; they're slowly blending back to one. 

When Harvey's discharged, he has nowhere to go. Bruce takes him in. 

\---

7.

When Bruce offers to pay for the surgery, Harvey almost says yes. 

He has his own money and Bruce knows that; that's not the point, it's the gesture. Bruce wants him to heal and Bruce wants to help. Harvey's capable of healing all by himself. 

Still, he stays with Bruce through the recovery, drinking Alfred's meals through a straw till the bandages come off. The surgeon was excellent. He looks just like before. 

Nobody knows what he did; the new DA takes him on in his office. He moves home but doesn't feel it. From his bedroom, he sees Arkham. 

\---

8.

They have dinner once a week, every week. 

The restaurant varies - Bruce thinks his assistant likes playing games - but the company doesn't. Harvey's still Harvey, charming as ever, one of three people who know. They play their chess by email. 

They're both important men. If Harvey runs for DA he'll win, and Bruce will back him. He's proud of him, as Rachel would be. He's back from the edge and from Arkham, though they still call him Two-Face. 

Dinner's at Bruce's tonight, the first time since he left, conversation stilted in anticipation. Bruce kisses him before he can leave. 

\--- 

9.

The touch of Bruce's hands makes Harvey shiver. 

Four weeks now, a dance around the fact of their attraction to end up here, breathless together. Harvey traces Bruce's scars, asks for their stories and Bruce doesn't lie. Bruce sucks him, Bruce strokes him, Bruce eases inside him; all those years led here. Bruce has more scars than Harvey does. 

When Bruce takes off the Bat and comes to bed, they sleep together. Harvey watches, lying close. The part of him that's wanting Bruce is the part that isn't him. 

The bed's fit for ten; they only need room for three. 

\---

10.

Bruce knows what Harvey's thinking. 

He isn't blind; slipped in the shower, Harvey says, incident with a cabinet door, never knew he was so damn clumsy. But Bruce sees, and something wrenches inside him. 

"I don't want to hurt you," Harvey says. But he has his hands wrapped around Bruce's throat. 

"So don't," Bruce says; Harvey cracks, Harvey smiles. Bruce knows that Harvey could kill him. He decides to take that risk, a leap of faith. 

Cut himself shaving, Harvey says. It's always the same side. 

He was broken before all this began. He's still in Arkham in his head.


End file.
